Wordful Wednesday

6th grade promotion Friday June 5th... This child wouldn't wear a tie...

OOps... I never get this hotmail stuff right... At our game last night... Alex playing 1st base.

And doing a fine job of it too. After Promotion, at Chili's... our tradition of lunching out after school's out.

Why does Johnny look so happy? Because Miss Teen California 2009 was his Teacher's Asst. this year, and he informed me she was "hot"! He giggled and danced when she was signing his yearbook...he couldn't contain his happiness.

Alex and his Teacher... Mrs. Nicholls.

Accepting his "charge"

Wordful Wed at Angies Circus!

Okay... Alberto, don't kill me... but I just had to post this picture!

This, my friends, is a recent picture of my Italian Exchange Student that came to live with us

over 20 years ago...

Hubba Hubba huh?

The gorgeous lady next to him is his Mama.

I was soooo excited to get a phone call from him, and an email from him on Sunday, AFTER 17 YEARS! The last time I spoke to him was my wedding day!

*

Soon after I met Bill, about 3 months after, I took off to go to Italy for a month and stayed with Alberto and his family.

Yeah...I know... go ahead and hate me...

I had the greatest time, and he showed me Venice, Andorra, Monaco, Pisa, Milan, Nice, Switzerland, and oh so many other fantastic places!

*

The next time we go to Italy, probably next year in Spring, we are going to visit Alberto and whoop it up with my boys and hubby!

I'm hoping to show my men all the fabulous places Alberto showed me...

***

So great to hear from you Alberto.

You were never forgotten!

Until we speak again!

Ciao!

Wordful Wed.

Stop of over to Angies by clickin the above button... and join in on the fun!

yes, my son does his homework everywhere... there's so much of it... he has to!

Will's school is just around the corner... so I had a friend drop him off so I could feed him too.

Alex, my middle boy, was umping a Farm baseball game.

blink!

Ugh... I did these backwards again! Oh well... this, above, is my Johnny, posing in his 'model' pose for me. He won a coloring contest at Famous Daves BBQ and we attended the winner's dinner last night. His eyes are huge... aren't they? If I had had a girl... she would probably never get such big eyes.

He was pretty darn proud of himself. This is Wilbur... he needn't have worried...we don't eat pork... This was the winning picture. He added the verbiage and the flames on the guitar.

>

Wordful Wed.

Spring Break... 2008. I was a bad Mama this year, and didn't get my camera out at all.

To see more Wordful Wed posts... click on this!

Wordful Wednesday

It Wordful Wednesday Time at Angies Place... just click on the pretty blue flowers to see more pictures to cure your voyeuristic tendencies... like I do!

He's 14, and sometimes we like to pretend he is still our itty, bitty baby. He indulges us, but as you can see from his face...he only does it because he loves us.

William obviously has my Italian coloring... even in November.

Bill loved the position of his arm in this one... I just love him... period.

Alex, eating his Icee at Will's game...wearing his ACA hat...since he's going there next year, he likes to make sure he shows school spirit. I had an adorable picture of Johnny at the game, but there was another child in the picture, and I don't post pictures of other peoples kids without consent... and I'm to lazy to crop this morning. Happy Wednesday!

Wordful Wed

My almost 15 year old boy.

He makes me exceedingly proud...

He is a team player through and through.

A natural born leader...

misunderstood at times,

but he doesn't care...

He is just a boy who cares about doing the right thing.

~~~

His coaches might not see his potential right now...

But we think he is all the greats... rolled into one...

especially in his heart...

Where it truly matters.

Wordful Wednesday

The week in Review...

Click here to see more!

Johnny was the lead in a play... he had to play a blind man named Simon, from the Bible,

And had to sing two solos... and if I ever figure out how to upload the video I took, I'll do that... This is Braja... my friend in India, who was in a horrendous car accident in Mayapur. She and her husband have undergone many surgeries, and her husband is still in critical condition... prayers are requested. Yes, she is a red head, from Ireland, ended up in India, by way of Australia... She is fascinating. This is a plate of cookies I was trying to send to a friend in Boston... that the mail mart wouldn't take. Weird huh? Wanna see more? Head on over to Angies by clicking on the flowers above!

Wordful Wednesday!

I am using this forum...Wordful Wednesday... to educate.

Friends...family... Countrymen... I beg of you... nay... plead with you to

AHEM...

TURN OFF YOUR WORD VERIFICATION

IF YOU WANT ME TO COMMENT ON YOUR BLOG.

PLEASE... FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THAT IS HOLY... DO THIS ONE THING...For me... for your fellow bloggers.

I am curious as to what you think might happen if you turned it off?

Educate me... what happens?

All I know is... there is an awful lot of clicking, and typing, and clicking and mouse moving, and in the end it takes me 2 minutes to comment on your blog... and since I only allow myself 1/2 hour for blog commenting and surfing a day... that kinda eats into the other comment time I have to do!

So please... go into your settings, and click on "embed" comment into your post, and TURN OFF your word verification...

I thank you in advance.

I really do love you!

And now... back to our regularly scheduled Wordful Wed.

This is the view from my kitchen window.

This happened to be one of those "ooh" "aah" moments that needed a camera.

Thanks for indulging me!

Wordful Wed!

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or

It's Wed. So now its Wordful Wed time!

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My Gladiolas are coming in! 6 years ago... I planted one Gladiola I received as a gift...

Now... I have more than 100! From one bulb!

It has been a week of goodness... Queenie Jeannie made and mailed me this AWESOME card!

It's going on my office bulletin board so I can see it all the time!

Thank you Jeannie! I love it.. and you!

Spring has sprung at Casa De Shaver. This is my mini peach tree. This is my mini nectarine tree. In the corner is my 3 variety apple tree. And THIS... this is the face of a child that just found out that he did INDEED make the baseball team at school! Last week was difficult time... we learned he didn't make the team, and we were all kinda shell shocked. They went from having him try out for Varsity, telling him what positions they were excited for him to play... to cutting him from the team. His baseball class coach, the Varsity team, the Athletic staff, so many people were dumbfounded when they learned he had been cut. But... I am a firm believer in the tryout system and don't like it when "Everyone makes the team" and needed to respect the decision made. So I said nothing... we accepted the it, and moved on. I did say this to my son the day he learned he was cut and said... "This is a bad decision, they made a mistake... you watch... they will call back and realize it... you just wait." You know what? Those were the EXACT words the Athletic Director of his High School used, to tell me William was on the team. The. Exact. Words. I got on my knees right after that phone call yesterday. Thanking God for letting it happen this way. In the past week. WE have learned a lot about who we are as a family, and what we stand for. We sacrificed a lot for Will to try out. There were weekend games, 4 per weekend, in the rain, wind, heat, dust storms... you name it, all over Southern Calif. The younger boys were dragged all over. We didn't come home from school until 6 p.m. most nights, because Will had practice for baseball and a soccer game on the same night. Will was CRUSHED when his name wasn't on the list, but boy, did he handle himself with dignity and grace. In a lot of way... he is more of a grown up than I am. I was flummoxed. Someone knocked the wind out of me. I swore he was a shoe in. He's played since he was 5 yrs. old. Made All Stars twice. Hit homeruns over the fence. Seemed to stretch 2 extra feet when he played first base. We. didn't. get . it. But we accepted it, and moved on. And now he is back on the team. Congratulations William! Dad and I, and Alex and Johnny ALWAYS KNEW you had the right stuff!

Wordful Wednesday

One year ago this week...

We were at the beach (yes, again) enjoying a long weekend.

^The boys were, of course, being silly...

and hammy... and manly... and sometimes... they weren't around me at all... {{breathe}} and life is good with them... and so serene for the few moments they are occupied elsewhere. Oh... how I need a day like the last picture... Wanna play? Click on this button and see what all the Wordful Wednesday stuff is about! AND AT